As the Great War rages on the continent, Everest Macdonald is summoned to her father’s deathbed and entrusted with a final urgent request: she must uncover the truth behind the murder of her uncle, the celebrated Victorian actor William Terriss, a crime that has haunted her family for twenty years.
In 1897, Terriss was stabbed to death outside London’s Adelphi Theatre, a killing that shocked Victorian society. The murderer was swiftly arrested and confined to Broadmoor, the case declared closed.
Yet years later, a sealed package of evidence passed to Everest by her dying father casts doubt on the official verdict and the haste with which it was reached.
Drawn back to wartime London, with her husband and children left behind, Everest begins her investigation, following a trail that leads her into the world of late-Victorian theatre, where fame and fortune mask obsession, envy and cruelty.
With time running out and her father’s strength failing, Everest must uncover what really happened on the night Terriss died, and shed light on the unsettling legacy he left behind…
A.J. West’s bestselling debut novel The Spirit Engineer won the Historical Writers’ Association Debut Crown Award, gaining international praise for its telling of a longforgotten true story.
His second novel, The Betrayal of Thomas True, debuted at number two on the Sunday Times bestseller list, and won the CWA Historical Dagger. A.J. was also shortlisted for the Booksellers Association Author the Year.
An award-winning BBC newsreader and reporter, he has written for national newspapers and regularly appears on network television discussing his writing and the historical context of contemporary events.
A passionate historical researcher, he writes at The London Library and museum archives around the world.
My thoughts: Based on a true murder case and real people, this was a very interesting and intriguing read. Everest MacDonald is summoned by her dying father to fulfil his final request – solve her uncle’s murder, his supposed killer might be in Broadmoor, but the facts and the story don’t add up.
As Everest starts to investigate, she also reads her father’s memoir of the early years of his time in India, and then her late aunt’s diary, both documents filling in the details of her uncle’s life and possibly his death. If an escaped lunatic actor doesn’t kill her whole family first.
Aided by her adopted niece, she works to put the pieces together, questioning various witnesses and involved parties, including her cousins, the theatre doorkeeper and several luminaries of Victorian theatre land.
Clever, and full of twists and turns, this was really enjoyable and entertaining, her aunt endured a terrible time with her uncle, always travelling and running from a curse, while Everest is much more practical minded than most of the other characters, not believing in ghosts and curses, but sure someone is messing about and interfering in her investigation.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
